covenant of God; and so, beloved, must we find it. We cannot retain anything here below. Is it health? How soon the bloom vanishes from the cheek, and decay sets in upon our mortal bodies. Is it wealth? If we attempt to grasp it, and think we hold it, how soon by some means or another it flies away. Is it home? It is astonishing how oft the children of God attempt to feather their nest here, and to satisfy themselves that at all events they are now settled; how God puts a thorn in it, and shows them that they must retain the character of sojourners in the wilderness. Is it earthly beloveds? The severing time must come; earth's clingings cannot resist death's shakings. David looking back had to pause over an "although;" and an old quaint writer says truly, "There is an 'although' in every man's life and lot." Oh, how precious to turn to the Lord's "yet," and to feel that when we come to covenant choice, covenant grace, covenant promises, covenant blood, that here is something" ordered in all things and sure." Beloved, be it our comfort to feel that our salvation is not a thing of today, and uncertain on the morrow; no, it is founded on the covenant of our God," that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His." Oh, let David's last words be our stronghold, and we sing, "This God is our God for ever and ever."

"Faithful to His decrees of love,

His cov'nant and His Son;

Faithful to perfect that above,
Which grace hath here begun."

Pray for a faith that puts implicit confidence in the covenant of God" ordered in all things and sure.'

A FIRM GRASP.

"Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life." PROV. iv. 13.

Surely the advice here to take fast hold of instruction is in point of fact to take a firm hold upon Jesus, who is the personification of wisdom. He is God, the only wise. Lay hold of the doctrines and the Gospel of Christ. Firmly grasp everything that pertains to Him. Get so full of Christ, that there is no room for the world or anything else. Be not remiss in any means that will tend to make you wise unto salvation; for such wisdom is the principal thing. These are some of the points veiled in this precious injunction: "Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life." And if this be attained, what shall be the result? The previous verse declares it: "When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble." Herein is a test for us; when the world presents itself with its insinuating vanities, if I join counsel with it, or if I follow in the ways of the ungodly, though it be only a little, just for this once, I shall become straitened in the sanctuary, straitened at the throne of grace, straitened in the company of God's people. It cannot be; I must be decided; I must take hold of Christ. Only let such a standing be persevered in, reader, and expect persecution from the professor and from the world; but never mind this: such principles will do for a dying hour. Ah, when I come to lay my head upon a dying pillow, I shall never regret the times when I have stood firm for Christ; but oh, with what regret shall I look back upon those seasons when I have yielded to the world, and joined in their unsanctified amusements. Henceforth then, dear

reader, may you and I take such fast hold of the arm of Jesus, as that the entanglements of the world shall only be as cobwebs, easily swept away. Let Jesus be all, and when thou runnest thou shalt not stumble. Look out and look on; thou art in an enemy's land. Put on the whole armour of God. Bind the girdle of truth around thy loins. Take fast hold of instruction; and so "Shod with Gospel preparation,

In the paths of promise tread; Let the hope of free salvation, As a helmet guard thy head:

When beset with various evils,
Wield the Spirit's two-edged sword;
Cut thy way through hosts of devils,
While they fall before the word."

Pray to be stirred up to increased diligence in the ways of the Lord, and to be so full of Christ as to leave no room for the world and its trifling pleasures.

LEAVE IT WITH THE LORD.

"The Lord maintain the cause of His servant at all times

shall require."-1 Kings viii. 59.

.. as the matter

Beloved, have there not been times in our experience when the matter in hand has engendered much human calculation, and a leaning to creature strength, which has caused agitation and perplexity beyond measure, when a still small voice has come with its silvery whisper, Why not leave it with the Lord? Oh, it has been like oil on the troubled waters, and the sweet calm of holy confidence in the Lord has brought restoration of spirit, as faith has responded, And so I will-I will leave it to the Lord: as Naomi did when she said to Ruth-" Sit still, my daughter, until thou seest how the matter will fall;" and as Solomon did when the burden of his cry was, "The Lord maintain the cause of His servant at all times, as the matter shall require." Yes, beloved, "as the matter shall require." Ofttimes life's cares are so intricate that we do not know what the matter does require; we do not know how to act, and how it will end. Under such circumstances it is precious to be assured our God knows, and that He will maintain the cause of His servant, and, according to promise, will fit the blessing into the need, give wisdom for the requirement, and order all for the best. "Your Father knoweth ye have need of these things," said our dear Redeemer. Memorable words! my soul grasp them, and believe their purport. And then, beloved, we must not overlook those three precious words in this passage" at all times." Yes, my entire times are in His hand; not a moment am I forgotten by God: day and night He is interested in my preservation, welfare, and advancement. He who has saved the soul will provide for the body. The momentous being accomplished, the minute is all arranged. Well, then, beloved, may we leave all with the Lord; for,

"At all times and in all seasons,

Hours of darkness and of light;
All the summer, all the winter,
Every day and every night,
A hand that never fails is nigh,
To guide us safely till we die."

Pray for holy composure of mind, and for faith to leave the matter in hand with the Lord.

Then, beloved, at the opening of another year we would say to you as well as to one's self:

I. Face the future with a firm confidence in a covenant God.

II. Bow to His divine will in all His appointments.

III. Stay thyself upon His unchangeable covenant "ordered in all things and

sure."

IV. Firmly grasp the hand of Jesus, and live by faith near His side.

And, lastly, When some deep matter too hard for thee to understand comes across your pathway, leave it with the Lord. He will, as in times past, work graciously and wondrously. Fear not, be strong, press on to the promised eternal weight of glory.

"Oh, to grace how great a debtor!"

Bury St. Edmund's.

G. C.

A WAITING FAITH.

“And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.”—LUKE xii. 36. Waiting. With the instinctive impetuosity of our natures, this is just the one thing that we do not like. We like running, hastening, flying; anything but waiting and it takes a good deal of sharp discipline, complete emptying, and salutary strippings, to bring us truly to wait upon the Lord in a humble, trustful, patient, and enduring spirit.

Jacob was not waiting when He said, "If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." Nor Jeremiah when he said, "O God, thou hast deceived me, and I am deceived; wilt Thou be as a liar unto me?" And if we, beloved, look back, we fear we have seldom been found patiently waiting.

Now, God's word is full of blessings to those who do really wait upon Him. It tells us they that wait upon the Lord—

I. Shall not be ashamed (Psalm xxv. 3; Isa. xlix. 23).

II. Shall renew their strength (Isa. xl. 31).

III. Shall inherit the earth (Psalm xxxvii. 9).

IV. Shall be saved (Prov. xx. 22; Isa. xxv. 9).

V. Shall rejoice in salvation (Isa. xxv. 9).

VI. Shall receive the glorious things prepared by God for them (Isa. Ixiv. 4). Well may we then exclaim with the Psalmist, "Wait upon the Lord, and be of good courage; and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, upon the Lord." While we deeply consider our dear Redeemer's own words, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding: that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching."

"Here then we'll wait to hear His word,

And sing the praises of the Lord;

Receive the treasures God has given,

And go

Pray to be delivered waiting, watching faith. Bury St. Edmund's.

from strength to strength to heaven."

from the manifestation of unsanctified haste, and for a Yours in covenant bonds,

G. C.

Christ hath paid dear for your afflictions that they might be sanctified.-Rev.

J. Gammon.

A PAGE FOR FEMALE PREACHERS.

THERE were orders and degrees in the early Church, appointments of certain men to certain offices. Apostles, immediately sent by Christ to preach the gospel, messengers of the Churches; prophets, men set apart for expounding Scripture or addressing the Church in public (1 Cor. xiv. 1, 3, 4); teachers, public ministers (Ephes. iv. 11), or private spiritual instructors (Tit. ii. 3); evangelists, preachers of the Gospel; pastors or shepherds, those who should feed the people with knowledge (Jer. iii. 15); and bishops or elders, spiritual over

Now, among these degrees and orders in the early Church, directly under the guiding and teaching of the Holy Ghost, does the name of a single woman find a place? Honourable mention is made of man, but where is the spiritual order for the appointment of the female preacher, teacher, evangelist, &c.? "To the law and to the testimony," let women show us from the word of God where they get their authority to preach and teach, and we will open the pulpits for them and listen with profound submission.

But the question of right or wrong is more especially put in this day of excitement, when there have been and still are so many of the gentler sex who have left the privacy of the domestic circle and come forward in the capacity of teachers and preachers, as if they had received a mandate to occupy a position given only to man, and perfectly incompatible with the character of woman. No doubt there are many godly daughters of Eve who, by thus going forth, think they are doing God service. Their motives may be better than their judgments, but is this practice scriptural? is it comely? does it commend itself to the Church, or even to the world? I trow not.

"Go ye," said our risen Lord," into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature;" but to whom did He speak? To His eleven apostles, and no woman made one of that number. Mary Magdalene had been tenderly dealt with in the garden as she stood weeping in her womanly weakness; but does Jesus, as He calls her by her name " Mary," say to her, "Go and preach, go and teach ?" No, it was a simple message she was to take to the disciples, "Go to my brethren and say unto them," &c. And if one daughter of our first mother, more than

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Apostles, in the sense in which the twelve were apostles, stand alone. They were the medium through which the then unwritten mind of God was from time to time communicated to the Church, and they stood in a position and place of authority in which they could have no successors. But there is a subordinate sense in which apostles are spoken of -as Barnabas, Junia and Andronicus, &c.-men occasionally raised up and sent forth by God to do a special work in the Church, as Luther and others have been since, and in this sense alone can the gift be regarded as being continued.

Prophets are men who (inasmuch as in the varying exigencies of the Church of God, and the various methods by which in different ages Satan assaults her, sometimes one truth and sometimes another has to be brought into prominenee, and pressed with peculiar emphasis) have discernment given them by God to bring out the very truths which are especially needed to meet the character of the times and the especial exigencies of the Church, and they speak to edification and comfort.

Teachers differ from prophets in as much as we trace any special reference to peculiar present egency, their gift enables them to interpret Scripture generally.

A pastor feeds the flock of God, not always of necessity on public ministry, but, possessing a knowledge of the individual state and circumstances of those who compose the flock, advises and "leads" the sheep as a shepherd does the flock.

An evangelist is one who publicly proclaims the way of salvation.-G. H, G.

But

another could have told of pardoning love and redeeming grace, it was surely Mary Magdalene, out of whom had been cast seven devils; and, if she were that same woman who had previously come with an alabaster box of precious ointment for her precious Lord, what did the Master say respecting the service? Why, that it was to be told of her, not by her. Mary of Bethany sat to learn of Jesus at His feet, and for that He commended her; yet we never hear of her becoming a teacher; the good part was that of the learner. in the present day we have many godly women (the purity of whose motives are entirely credited) who would say, Oh, it is not enough to sit at the feet of Jesus and to hear His word. I must go and proclaim it. The fire is kindling within me. I must go and preach." And so before hundreds of people, men and women of all ranks and ages, "the tender and delicate woman" stands up and faces them all with a masculine air and an unblushing cheek, and becomes the teacher, the preacher; but―Adam was first formed, then Eve.

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It is such a pitiable sight to see a young woman (and we never hear of an old one) thus forgetful of her scriptural position, and, from a mistaken zeal, laying herself open to invidious remarks which the worldly mind will naturally make upon an act so perfectly antagonistic to the propriety and dignity of the female character. The marvel is that a Christian husband is content to see the wife of his youth become the public gaze of an assembled multitude, whereas her place is at home, a keeper there and a teacher too, guiding her house and her children instead of preaching, as if there were no men in the world. But the marvel is even greater when the young unmarried Christian lady glides out of her father's house into a public rotunda or tent, and presides over a congregated assembly in prayer and preaching, setting at nought the apostolic command, that a woman is neither to preach nor to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but be in silence." And let us look at that command, for it is an important one, given, like all Scripture, "by inspiration of God." Gill, who stands first as a commentator by the lovers of truth, and whose depth of learning and spirituality have never been doubted, thus writes on the 1 Cor. xiv. 34: “ Let your women keep silence in the churches.' This is a restriction of, and an exception to, one of the preceding rules that all might prophecy (or preach), in which he would be understood of men only, and not of women, and is directed against a practice which seems to have prevailed in the church at Corinth, allowing women to preach and teach in it; and this being a disorderly practice, and what was not used in other churches, the apostle forbids and condemns, and not without reason, 'for it is not permitted unto them to speak'—that is in public assemblies—in the Church of God, they might not speak with tongues, or prophesy, or preach, or teach the word. All speaking is not prohibited; they might speak their experiences to the Church, or give an account of the work of God upon their souls; they might speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; but not in such sort as carried in it direction, instruction, government, authority. It was not allowed by God that they should speak in any authoritative manner in the Church, nor was it suffered in the Churches of Christ, nor was it admitted in the Jewish synagogue, where we are told the men came to teach and the women to hear. But they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law in Gen. iii. 16: Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.' By this the apostle would signify that the reason why women were not to speak in the Church, or to preach and teach publicly, or be concerned in the ministerial function, is because this is an act of power and authority, of rule and government, and so contrary to that rule and subjection which God in His law requires of women unto men. The extraordinary instances of Deborah, Huldah,

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